COVINGTON, La. (AP) - A former member of a south Louisiana school board has pleaded not guilty to charges in a shoplifting case.
Sharon Lo Drucker, who resigned from the St. Tammany Parish School Board last month after her second arrest for shoplifting, entered the plea Wednesday in state district court. Drucker faces a single count of theft less than $1,000. She did not appear in court. Her attorney, Cynthia Petry, entered the plea before state District Judge Alan Zaunbrecher.
Drucker’s trial is set for April 8.
Drucker did not return a call for comment, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported.
She’s accused of taking $94 worth of merchandise from Belk near Covington on Nov. 28. Previously, Drucker was arrested in July 2018 for taking $58.25 in merchandise from a Walmart near Covington. In January 2019, she was placed in a year-long diversion program for first-time offenders that, upon completion, resulted in the charges being dropped.
After the first arrest, her fellow School Board members asked her to consider resigning. But Drucker, who was re-elected to her Madisonville-area seat with 70% of the vote, refused. Last month, however, she stepped down when news of her second arrest broke. In her resignation letter, she said that she was receiving medical care that prevented her from serving, calling the matter “extremely personal and confidential.”
A special election will be held to fill Drucker’s seat on Oct. 9.
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